TOXIC waste of any kind could be dumped down Winsford Rock Salt Mine without the need for permission, if a condition attached to planning approval is removed.

TOXIC waste of any kind could be dumped down Winsford Rock Salt Mine without the need for permission, if a condition attached to planning approval is removed.

The Salt Union wants Cheshire County Council to delete conditions attached to its approved 1998 planning application to mine salt.

Conditions 13 and 14 prevent the Salt Union from bringing waste and other materials into the mine.

The Salt Union claims the conditions restrict it from storing archive materials and waste underground.

As it was granted permission to store files and documents in the mine in 2001, and because the Minosus scheme to store waste underground was approved by the Secretary of State in July 2002 (though that has since been put on hold), the Salt Union says the conditions have been superseded.

The conditions mean the Salt Union, which is part of Minosus, would have to apply for the removal of conditions 13 and 14 on a 'case by case' basis.

That would mean bosses would have to wade through red tape every time they received lorryloads of different types of waste.

The request was being discussed at Vale Royal Borough Council's planning committee as the Chronicle went to press last night.

Vale Royal Borough Council had recommended councillors object to removal of the conditions. The borough council's objections will be passed on to the county council and taken into consideration when it makes its final decision.

A borough council spokesman said: 'The removal of conditions would allow for waste to be deposited without the need for planning permission in the future.

'This would only be the case if the Minosus application is approved and implemented.'

But the company has a fight on its hands before it can win permission to store waste at the mine.

John Prescott quashed the scheme to turn the mine into Britain's first underground waste dump, despite its approval at a lengthy public inquiry and, if he decides the mine should not be used as a waste dump, then rubbish will not be allowed down the mine.